Not long till Spring now

Spring bulbs on LottiePlotFour

The sun has not been out much in Manchester (yet), but there are some signs that Spring is coming. Daffodils are flowering and those annoying weed seeds are popping through in places. It has still been very wet, but we are lucky that our soil drains quickly and it doesn't become waterlogged.











Despite the poor weather, we have made progress on Plot 2b and now have new raised beds in the middle section.

Raised beds with covered paths for easy maintenance

Taking a risk with early broad beans

I have been itching to plant something so decided to put some broad beans in. These are pretty hardy so I think they will okay. We haven't planted broad beans for a while; probably because the crops can be so big we ended up getting a bit sick of them! In this section I have planted about 40 seeds in a block pattern. As these come through I will probably space them out a little so they are in double rows.








At the end of last summer we decided to take on this half plot. It had been left unattended for a while, but it does have a nice greenhouse and patio area - so potential! This middle section was full of annual weeds, but really not too many of the real baddies. All the weeds had gone to seed so we 'blasted' them with a weed wand before cutting them down and covering the area with ground cover fabric over the winter. After uncovering this, I am pleasantly surprised; it doesn't look too bad!

The plan is to work on clearing this area for planting in Spring.

Last year I managed to just about stick to a planting plan, so this is 2016's effort.

Happy Gardening All! Click here for a larger version of the plan.